A royal biographer says the Queen was told not to marry Prince Philip because he was too funny

• Queen Elizabeth II was reportedly told not to marry Prince Philip because he was too funny.
• Royal biographer A.N. Wilson said that, at the time, he was considered "entirely the wrong choice."
• Despite skeptics, the royal couple had a marriage that spanned more than 70 years.

Though Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip seemingly had a happy marriage, those closest to her reportedly thought the duke wasn't the right choice ahead of their wedding.

As the Telegraph reported, royal biographer A.N. Wilson previously said that the Queen was often advised against marrying the Duke of Edinburgh as a result of his humor.

According to Wilson, the Queen's courtiers said at the time that Prince Philip was "entirely the wrong person to choose" because he made so many "gaffes."

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"They said it for lots of reasons, but the fact is he was wrong," Wilson reportedly said in 2016 of the courtiers' advice. "The Queen is a very reserved, diligent person. He isn't. He was a naval officer and he was also quite funny."

The royal couple proved their skeptics wrong beginning on day one of their marriage. As the royal family shared in a tweet on Wednesday, Prince Philip even created a bracelet for the Queen as a wedding present.

The diamond cuff featured stones from a tiara owned by his mother, according to the tweet.

-The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) April 14, 2021

Samir Hussein, a royal photographer, also told Insider's Mikhaila Friel that Philip's sense of humor was one of the main reasons why he loved working with him. Hussein described the royal as "a very witty man" with a "sense of mischief."

"A great example of this was during Royal Ascot years ago when I photographed him arriving with the Queen by carriage," he told Friel about a moment in 2012. "As they were arriving in the parade ring in front of a large crowd, the duke leaned in to the Queen and said a few words before bursting into uncontrollable laughter."

"The Queen was also grinning, so it produced a great photo as they passed in front of me," Hussein continued. "This was typical of the impulsive humor the duke could produce in front of the camera."

Their marriage spanned more than 70 years before Philip died at the age of 99 on Friday. In a statement previously obtained by Insider, Buckingham Palace said he "passed away peacefully" at Windsor Castle.